plan:g | The Austrian Broadcasting Company (ORF) in its main news show on September 22nd promoted the use of artemisinin tea for malaria prophylaxis. plan:g asked the Austrian regulatory to attend to this failure. Mass experiments with teas containing artemisinin ignore the present evidence on the development of resistance. This is negligent. It endangers human life. In order to bring the case to the ORF Viewers Council, we need your support. Please sign our online-petition.  

The Austrian Broadcasting Company (ORF) is obligated to maintain objectivity, take diversity opinion into account, to maintain balance and be non-partisan in reporting under the provisions of the ORF law and programming guidelines.

Teas containing artemisinin are unsuitable for the prophylaxis of malaria. The current state of medical knowledge (e.g. guidelines of the World Health Organization and professional associations in Austria, Switzerland and Germany) support the evidence that teas containing artemisinin are not suitable for malaria prophylaxis. The mechanisms of development of resistance are well known. Mass experiments with teas containing artemisinin ignore the present evidence on the development of resistance: This is negligent and endangers human life.

In its financing of the movie and in its apologetic report on the film „Das Fieber“ [The Fever], in its news report “Zeit im Bild” ZIB1 on September 22, 2020, the ORF violated the quality criteria stated in the ORF law, because scientific evidence is not only ignored in the film itself, but representatives of scientific evidence were falsely defamed and their reputations violated by depicting them as purely profit-oriented.

Therefore, the regulatory must attend to this failure – especially against the background of the current COVID-19 pandemic: Citizens must be able to rely on proper health reporting by the ORF. The inclusion of health sector expertise in health reporting by the ORF must be better guaranteed both in the current case and on an ongoing basis, in order to avoid undermining health education in Austria, in the German-speaking countries, and beyond.

Please sign: In order to bring the case to the ORF Viewers Council, we need your support. 

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Source: Plan:g
Sign the petition here: https://plan-g.at/ueber-uns/news/orf-petition-english